Repeating device

ABSTRACT

Repeating device connected to a local area network (LAN) which connects a plurality of telephones and relays communication between first and second telephones. The repeating devices include a unit for requesting during communication a response from another receiver-side telephone indicating its availability to receive a call, and a unit for notifying the address of the receiver-side telephone that responded to the caller-side telephone.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No.09/964,333, filed Sep. 28, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,676, thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a repeating device, a telephone set anda recording medium, and especially relates to the communicationtechnology of relaying via a communication line telephone devicesconnected to a local area network.

Heretofore, voice communication between dedicated telephone setsconnectable to a local area network (hereinafter called LAN telephones)and voice communication between personal computers (PCs) connected tothe local area network are realized by a VoIP (Voice over IP) technologythat processes the voice signal into packets and transmits the packetsthrough the network. As shown in FIG. 6, in a minimum system environmentin which the LAN telephones and the repeating device (router 14)operate, PCs 11 and telephone sets 12 a-12 c connected to areceiver-side LAN 101 is connected via the router 14, an integratedservices digital network (hereinafter called ISDN) 3, and connectinglines 41 and 42 to PCs 21 and telephone sets 22 a-22 c connected to acaller-side LAN 20.

According to such system environment, the communication method realizingcalls between LAN telephones connected either to the same local areanetwork or to different local area networks having different subnetaddresses via a subscriber line can be applied to connect calls thatdesignate a specific address, but there is conventionally no transfersystem that enables the LAN telephone connected to a local area networkto perform a transfer process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a telephone set, arepeating device, and a recording medium that enables a LAN telephoneengaged in communication to transfer the communication to another LANtelephone connected to the same local area network or to a differentlocal area network relayed by a communication line having a differentsubnet address.

The present invention provides a telephone connected to a local areanetwork; said telephone comprising, during communication, a function forrequesting a response from another receiver-side telephone indicatingits availability to connect a call, and a function for notifying theaddress of the receiver-side telephone that responded to a caller-sidetelephone.

Moreover, the present invention provides a repeating device for relayingcommunication to a plurality of receiver-side telephones that areconnected to a local area network; the repeating device comprising, uponreceiving a transfer request from a user, a function for requesting aresponse from another receiver-side telephone indicating itsavailability to connect a call, and a function for notifying the addressof the receiver-side telephone that responded to a caller-sidetelephone.

Even further, the present invention provides a recording medium readableby a computer and storing a program to be executed by said computer,said recording medium used either for a telephone being connected to alocal area network or for a repeating device for relaying communicationto a plurality of receiver-side telephones being connected to a localarea network; wherein the program comprises either of the following setsof functions: upon receiving a transfer request from a user, a functionfor requesting a response from another receiver-side telephoneindicating its availability to connect a call, and a function fornotifying the address of the receiver-side telephone that responded to acaller-side telephone; or during communication, a function forrequesting a response from another receiver-side telephone indicatingits availability to connect a call, and a function for notifying theaddress of the receiver-side telephone that responded to a caller-sidetelephone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the functional structure of alogical block of the LAN telephone according to embodiment 1;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing one example of the transferoperation performed by the LAN telephone according to embodiment 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example where the transfercannot be performed by the LAN telephone according to embodiment 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the functional structure of alogical block of the repeating device according to embodiment 2;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing one example of the transferoperation performed by the repeating device of embodiment 2; and

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the minimum system environment inwhich the LAN telephone and the repeating device operate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of to the present invention will now beexplained.

FIGS. 1 through 6 are referred to in explaining the embodiments of thetelephone and the repeating device according to the present invention.FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the functional structure of alogical block of a LAN telephone 12 according to embodiment 1. FIG. 2 isan explanatory view showing one example of the transfer operation by theLAN telephone according to embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is an explanatory viewshowing an example where the transfer cannot be performed by the LANtelephone of embodiment 1. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing thefunctional structure of a logical block of a repeating device (router14) according to embodiment 2. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing oneexample of the transfer operation by the repeating device of embodiment2. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the minimum system environmentin which the LAN telephone 12 and the repeating device 14 operate.

Embodiment 1 will now be explained. The telephone according to thepresent embodiment comprises a function for requesting to anotherreceiver-side telephone to reply their availability to connect a call,and a function for notifying the address of the receiver-side telephonethat responded to the caller-side telephone. As shown in the functionalstructure of the logical block in FIG. 1, the telephone 12 according tothe present embodiment comprises a CPU 121 having a structure of amicrocomputer that facilitates the send-receive of communication data bycontrolling the whole unit, a RAM 122 functioning as a memory forlogical memory, an EEPROM 123 which is a storage memory, an LED 124 andan LCD 125 that show the status of the present unit, a subscriber line(ISDN) and a 10 BASE-T (LAN), and a clock 126. Further, the presenttelephone comprises a LAN controller 127 that controls the send-receivedata with the 10 BASE-T (LAN), and a controller 128 for physicallycontrolling the 10 BASE-T. The telephone 12 further comprises amicrophone 129 and a speaker 130 for controlling the voice from theexterior. As shown in FIG. 6, the minimum system environment in whichthe LAN telephone 12 according to the present embodiment functions isthe same as the conventional example, wherein the PCs 11 and the LANtelephones 12 a-12 c connected to the receiver-side LAN 10 are connectedvia the router 14, the ISDN 3, and connecting lines 41 and 42 to the PCs21 and the LAN telephones 22 a-22 c connected to the caller-side LAN 20.

One example of the transfer operation according to the telephone ofembodiment 1 will now be explained with reference to FIG. 2. When thereceiver-side LAN telephone 12 a which is the telephone according to thepresent embodiment is communicating with the caller-side LAN telephone22 a and the telephone 12 a receives a transfer order from the user (inthe present example, the LAN telephone 12 b is designated as thetransfer destination), the LAN telephone 12 a sends a confirmationsignal to check the availability of the LAN telephone 12 b which is thedesignated transfer destination, and waits for a reply. Thetransfer-destination LAN telephone 12 b rings a bell, and if the useranswers the bell, it returns a “reply (call available)” to the LANtelephone 12 a (in the example, the LAN telephone 12 b is available forthe call). Upon receiving the call available reply, the LAN telephone 12a notifies the address of the LAN telephone 12 b to the caller-side LANtelephone 22 a. The caller-side telephone 22 a disconnects the call withthe LAN telephone 12 a, terminating the communication with thereceiver-side LAN telephone 12 a. The caller LAN telephone 22 agenerates a call to the address of the LAN telephone 12 b, and when thetransfer-destination LAN telephone 12 b receives the call, it returns a“reply (call OK)”. Upon receiving the “reply (call OK)”, the caller LANtelephone 22 a starts the communication using the VoIP protocol, and thetransfer process is completed. Thus, the LAN telephone 12 a beingconnected to a call can confirm whether another receiver LAN telephone12 b is capable of receiving a transferred call, and the caller LANtelephone 22 a can communicate with the LAN telephone 12 b to which thecall is transferred.

FIG. 3 is used to explain the case according to the telephone ofembodiment 1 in which the transfer-side telephone does not return areply. During communication with the caller-side LAN telephone 22 a,when the receiver-side LAN telephone 12 a receives a transfer order fromthe user (in this example, the LAN telephone 12 b is designated as thetransfer destination), it outputs a confirmation addressed to thetransfer-destination LAN telephone 12 b and waits for a reply. Thetransfer-destination LAN telephone 12 b rings a bell, but since there isno reply from the user, the receiver-side LAN telephone 12 a ceases thetransfer confirmation process, and returns to the communication with thecaller-side LAN telephone 22 a, and disconnects when terminating thecall.

Embodiment 2 will now be explained. The repeating device (router 14)according to embodiment 2 comprises a function for requesting uponreceiving a transfer request from a user a reply to anotherreceiver-side telephone whether it is available for a call or not, and afunction for notifying the address of the receiver-side telephone thatresponded to the caller-side telephone. The functional structure of thelogical block of the router 14 that is the repeating device according tothe present embodiment comprises, as shown in FIG. 4, a CPU 141 having astructure of a microcomputer that facilitates the send-receive ofcommunication data by controlling the whole unit, a RAM 142 functioningas a memory for logical memory, an EEPROM 143 which is a storage memory,an LED 144 and an LCD 145 that show the status of the present unit, asubscriber line (ISDN) and a 10 BASE-T (LAN), and a clock 146. Therouter 14 further comprises a controller 150 that physically controlsthe subscriber line (ISDN), a controller 151 that physically controlsthe 10 BASE-T, and a controller 152 that physically controls theRS-232C. Moreover, the router 14 comprises a network controller 147 anda 10 BASE-T controller 151 for controlling the data being sent to orreceived from the subscriber line (ISDN), a LAN controller 148 thatcontrols the data being sent to or received from the 10 BASE-T (LAN),and a RAM 149 which is used as the memory in which the networkcontroller 147 or the LAN controller 148 store the send-receive data.The minimum system environment in which the repeating device ofembodiment 2 operates is similar to embodiment 1 as shown in FIG. 6, sothe explanation thereof is omitted.

One example of the operation of the repeating device according toembodiment 2 will now be explained with reference to FIG. 5. When a callis connected between the caller-side LAN telephone 22 a and thereceiver-side LAN telephone 12 a, the receiver-side LAN telephone 12 areceives a transfer request from a user and the transfer destination isdesignated (in the present example, LAN telephone 12 b is designated).The receiver-side LAN telephone 12 a outputs a transfer request to thereceiver-side router 14 addressed to the LAN telephone 12 b. Uponreceiving the transfer request, the receiver-side router 14 outputs aconfirmation to the address of the transfer-side LAN telephone connectedto the LAN 10 asking its availability to connect a call, and waits for areply. The transfer-side LAN telephone 12 b rings a bell, and if theuser responds, returns a “reply (call available) to the router 14 (inthis case, the telephone 12 b is available). Upon receiving the callavailable signal, the router 14 notifies the address of thetransfer-side LAN telephone 12 b to the caller-side LAN telephone 22 a.Upon receiving the address of the transfer-side LAN telephone 12 b, thecaller-side LAN telephone 22 a generates a call to the address of thetransfer-side LAN telephone 12 b. The transfer-side LAN telephone 12 breceives the call, and returns a “reply (call OK)”. The caller-side LANtelephone 22 a receives the “reply (call OK)”, and starts communicationusing VoIP protocol, and thus the transfer is completed. As explained,the repeating device, upon receiving a transfer request from a user, canconfirm whether the transfer-side LAN telephone 12 b is available forreceiving the transferred call, and the caller-side LAN telephone 22 acan communicate with the transfer-side LAN telephone 12 b.

The above embodiments explained the case in which the present inventionis applied to a telephone and a repeating device, but it is alsopossible to store to a recording medium (such as a CD-ROM) readable by acomputer and storing a program to be performed by the computer thefunction for requesting upon receiving the transfer request from theuser a response from another receiver-side telephone indicating whetherit is available for connecting a call and a function for notifying theaddress of the receiver-side telephone that responded to the caller-sidetelephone, or a function for requesting during communication a responsefrom another receiver-side telephone whether it is available to receivea call and a function for notifying the address of the receiver-sidetelephone that responded to the caller-side telephone. By using thisrecording medium, the telephone connected to a local area network or adevice relaying communication to a plurality of receiver-side telephonesconnected to a local area network can function as the telephone or therepeating device of the present invention.

According to the present invention, in a communication system enablingcommunication between LAN telephones by providing a repeating device ina local area network or by relaying local area networks that havedifferent subnet addresses with a communication line, the presentinvention enables to provide a telephone and a repeating device that arecapable of transferring the call connected to a LAN telephone to anotherLAN telephone.

1. A repeating device connected to a local area network which connects aplurality of telephones and relays communication between a firsttelephone, connected to a first local area network and a secondtelephone, connected to a second local area network, said repeatingdevice comprising: means, operable during voice communication betweensaid first telephone and said second telephone, for requesting aresponse from a transfer-destination telephone indicating itsavailability to connect a call upon receipt of a demand to transfer thevoice communication from said first telephone; and means for notifyingthe address of the transfer-destination telephone to said secondtelephone upon receipt of a response from the transfer-destinationtelephone indicating its availability to connect a call, wherein atransfer process of the voice communication between said first telephoneand said second telephone on the local area network to a voicecommunication between said second telephone and the transfer-destinationtelephone is performed.
 2. The repeating device according to claim 1,further comprising: means for notifying a response indicating itsavailability to transfer a call to said first telephone upon receipt ofa response from the transfer-destination telephone indicating itsavailability to connect a call.